ELLINWOOD — For their dedication to quality rural health care, Dr. Charlie Joslin and Dr. Chris Brown have been named as grand marshals of the Ellinwood After Harvest Festival.
“They’re very team oriented and complement each other so well,” said Richard Kimple, Ellinwood Rotary Club nominating committee and chair of EDH Board of Directors. “These guys have done a wonderful job of upping the level of health care in Ellinwood.”
Both physicians practice at Ellinwood District Hospital and Clinic.
“The quality of health care hasn’t been better than I’ve seen in 67 years,” said Kimple.
Dr. Charlie Joslin
Dr. Joslin came to Ellinwood a little over four years ago from Russell.
“I like it here,” said Dr. Joslin. “It’s very clean and quiet. Lots of nice people.”
The rural community gives Dr. Joslin the opportunity to do things he enjoys. He is active in his church as a lector and grows a vegetable and flower garden. He has been married to his wife Denise for 15 years, has a son Peter, attending St. Joseph Catholic School, and had a nephew and niece that lives with the family for awhile.
He grew up in southeast Kansas where his great-grandfather had been a doctor.
After practicing nursing and attending a Baptist Seminary, he entered medical school at the University of Kansas.  He practiced at Hillside Medical office in Wichita for 13 years before moving to Russell
The physician enjoys the one-on-one communication between patient and doctor, which is one of the disadvantages to social media. “I think it takes depth out of communication and relationships. There is no real joy in it,” he said.
“My interest has always been in Primary care and involvement with people at important times through the life-span,” he said on EDH’s website. “This reflects the culture of medicine as I understood it to be practiced long ago. Although times have changed, I endeavor to hold true to those more traditional values and structures that drew me to consider medical practice in the beginning.”
Dr. Christopher Brown
Dr. Brown is a great advocate for rural medicine. Although he grew up in Kansas City, he met people from rural Kansas while attending K-State, and grew to enjoy the people of western Kansas. He graduated from KU Medical School in 2001.
In the later years of his education, there was the opportunity to work part-time in rural communities.
“There are a wide variety of small communities,” Dr. Brown said. “Each one has it owns strengths and charms.”
He started coming to Ellinwood in 2004, found it warm and welcoming, and chose to continue to work there. “It’s a great place to practice.”
So, he now works several days per week at the clinic in Ellinwood. The rest of the week, he teaches at KU Med Center/Salina. He is the associate director of clinical skills and teaches basic clinical skills as well as rural medical practice.
He is able to bring information on cutting edge medicine to Ellinwood.
His interests include: spending time with his wife, Chrissy and two children, Ethan, age 12, and Lily, age 9.  He enjoys Ford Mustangs and got his first Mustang, a 1980 model while in high school. He has owned a Mustang on and off since that time.